unprecedented plan for racial equity. my exclusive interview with the chief of the white house domestic policy council, ambassador susan rice. good morning. i'm jonathan capehart. this is "the sunday show." ♪♪ we begin this sunday with new details that emerged overnight about the historic second impeachment trial of donald trump. with little more than a week to go before it begins, trump is without a legal team. according to "the new york times," he's parted ways with five lawyers handling his defense. and has even reportedly insisted that the case is so simple, he could defend himself and save money. but what he lacks in a legal team, he more than makes up for in support within the gop. the republican party remains under siege by trumpism with now four republican lawmakers who

voted to impeach him censured by their own state republican parties. and among them, wyoming congresswoman liz cheney whose district was paid a visit by trump sycophant, congressman matt gates, on thursday. >> i think throughout the country right now there are folks in the maga movement who reasonably feel a little down trodden. maybe there's not a home for them anymore in the republican party. so i'm here to be the mast head for the america first movement. >> there's basically two things that liz cheney has done in the united states congress. frustrate the agenda of president trump and sell out to the forever war machine. >> highlighting trump's iron grip on the gop, on saturday, gates posted a photo of himself at mar-a-lago. besides hosting gates at the florida mansion that trump may not even legally be allowed to live in, trump's also been in touch with florida congresswoman and noted qanon devotee marjorie taylor greene. according to her tweet, he threw

his support around the conspiracy theorist who has denied school shootings, harassed their survivors and even called for violence against her democratic colleagues. joining me now is congressman ted deutch, democrat from florida and chairman of the house ethics committee and david hogg, co-founder of march for our lives and former student at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida. congressman, david hogg, thank you both very much for coming to "the sunday show." congressman, let me start with you, and i want to get right to it in this resolution from congressman jimmy gomez calling for the resignation or the removal of congresswoman marjorie taylor greene from congress. where are you on that? do you support that, and do you think she shouldn't be a member of congress? >> yes, i support that. she shouldn't be a member of congress. she shouldn't have a platform on house committees. this is an important moment for

the republican party. there is this new member of congress who believes in racist, anti-semitic, islam phobic conspiracy theories. she believes in the big lie of the president that led to the insurrection and she suggests that the mass shooting at stoneman douglas and the one in las vegas and the one at sandy hook never happened, that they were false flag events. this is outrageous. it is dangerous. and i am -- i only wish that she could talk to my constituents, that she had the opportunity to hear from the families who lost loved ones to know what this does to insult the memory of their loss. she has no place in congress. and instead, last thing i'll say here, jonathan, kevin mccarthy has to make a decision. he's got to decide whether this is going to be the face of the republican party. he put her on the education committee that deals with

education for the 6-year-old and 7-year-old kids like the ones murdered at stoneman douglas and the teenagers murdered in sandy hook and the teenagers at stoneman douglas and the survivors like david. it's -- this is a moment where he needs to stand up, and if he doesn't, he is selling out the republican party to a conspiracy cult going forward. >> before i get to you, david, congressman, i understand and feel your passion. one more question on minority leader kevin mccarthy. how much confidence do you have that leader mccarthy will step up and do the right thing when it comes to congresswoman taylor greene? >> this -- i don't have much confidence, sadly. but this isn't about political rhetoric. this is about dangerous lies. she called for the killing of political leaders. she doesn't deserve to have a seat at the table. kevin mccarthy gave her a

prominent one. he's the one who can change that. and if he doesn't, he is standing with her and all of the racist xenophobic, islamophobic, conspiracy theories that she spews and all of the families in parkland and throughout the country that she offends every single day with these damaging lies. >> well, david, as the nation knows, you are a survivor of the mass shooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school. you've been a passionate and forceful spokesperson and advocate for yourself, your classmates, your generation. it is, and i -- personally speaking, it's an honor to meet you and to talk to you. we've seen the video of marjory stoneman -- of marjorie taylor greene before she became a member of congress stalking you as you were making your way around the capitol hill complex. two questions. one, was that the one and only

time you had encountered her before she became a member of congress? >> i'm not sure. i believe there may have been other times, for example, a time in georgia. i don't know if it was her or possibly rebecca -- or lauren -- basically marjorie -- marge's evil twin as i'll call them. the other person that's been elected to congress that threw a hissy fit about us being able to bring a gun into the capitol. but, you know, i think that was really the main interaction, although i will say there was the other video taking before the one being shown currently where she followed us for about 15 to 10 minutes inside the capitol yelling at us, screaming at us and actually at that time, we started chanting "enough is enough" and the capitol police showed up in about 30 seconds. that's how i knew when i saw the insurrection happening that the police were not responding as timely as they otherwise would have because when a bunch of kids were shouting "enough is enough" against this conspiratorial anti-semite in congress as she was trying to

attack us and threaten to essentially kill us with a gun as she says in that video that's being shown, they showed up in about 30 seconds. but when a bunch of white supremacists showed up to overthrow our democraerks they didn't show up for nearly two hours. >> david, now that she's a member of congress, one, i just want to get your overall reaction for you. seeing the video being aired, what that does to you, what that means to you in terms of being a survivor and then what it says about where congress is and where our country is just in terms of tone and tenor, but also in terms of doing something about mass shootings in this country. >> it's horrifying. it's absolutely horrifying that, one, that she's on the education committee. that she's been rewarded for her behavior by minority leader mccarthy. it also says a lot about where

our country is. we have a sitting congresswoman who has threatened to assassinate speaker nancy pelosi. i can't name another job -- any job where someone would still either get hired or still have their job after threatening to assassinate their boss. and having the gun to do it. and then demanding they be allowed to bring in the gun into congress. what really concerns me, jonathan, is that in the united states, there is a history of elected officials murdering other elected officials and assassinating them. there is -- it's not like there's no precedent here. this has happened before. minority leader kevin mccarthy needs to act until something horrible happens. she's threatened to assassinate lawmakers and has the gun to do it. we need kevin mccarthy to act before it's too late. it's just truly horrifying, and, you know, ultimately, i think it says a lot about the fact where we stand in this country. that something as simple as whether or not school shootings actually exist now is a debatable issue within the

republican party. i don't want it to be that way. i know former republicans like my father don't want it to be that way, and we need more republicans like the few that have spoken out, the few congressional republicans that have spoken up, to stand up because, guess what, you're going to lose the house again in '22 because she's going to become the face of the republican party unless they actually do something to hold her accountable. >> david, you mention speaker pelosi. let's have a listen to what she had to say about marjorie taylor greene and being put on the education committee. >> what i'm concerned about is the republican leadership in the house of representatives who is willing to overlook, ignore those statements. assigning her to the education committee when she has mocked the killing of little children at sandy hook elementary school.

when she has mocked the killing of teenagers in high school at the marjory stoneman douglas high school. what could they be thinking or thinking too generous a word for what they might be doing. >> and congressman ted deutch, i was going to ask you a question, but what i want to do is play some sound of congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez and what she had to say about minority leader kevin mccarthy and what's going on right now. have a listen and have you respond on the other side. >> and so when i hear that representative mccarthy is going to pull a member aside who has made white supremacist sympathizing comments, the thing that i think is, what is he going to tell them? keep it up? because there are no consequences in the republican caucus for violence. there's no consequences for racism.

no consequences for misogyny. no consequences for insurrection. and no consequences means that they condone it. it means that that silence is acceptance, and they want it because they know that it is a core animating political energy for them. >> congressman deutch, what congresswoman ocasio-cortez said, they want to talk about unity and yet they keep going on about this and keep saying all these mean and nasty things about us. your reaction to their reaction to the truth that congresswoman ocasio-cortez was laying out there. >> she was laying out the truth. jonathan, mean and nasty things? my colleague ocasio-cortez is right. this is not a question of whether there is nasty political

rhetoric. this is -- these are dangerous lies that she puts forth. she posed with a white supremacist. she -- everyone had fun with this jewish laser video that she posted, which actually is part of a long line of her trafficking in anti-semitic conspiracy theories. she calls these events false flag events when i went to so many funerals like david and when the families continue to be haunted by the loss of their loved ones. this isn't about politics. this is about basic decency. and unless kevin mccarthy is willing to confront her, not in private, not in some conversation, but publicly, then he has no decency. and the republican party that he runs has no decency. this is the moment he needs to make a decision. his silence here only tells us that he stands on the side of the conspiracy cult.

and that is a dangerous place for him and ultimately as david says, and he's exactly right, it's a really dangerous place for the republican party to be because we saw what david and these young people did in 2018. they haven't stopped, and it's going to continue right on into the midterm election here. >> and david, we're out of time, but i want to give you an opportunity to get in one last thought in 15 seconds. >> yeah, i just wanted to say, it's horrible that this is happening, but also, jonathan, i know you'll be interviewing ambassador rice later. and i want you to ask her, for us, you know, we need the administration to talk about gun violence and talk about appointing a national director of gun violence prevention as over 300 survivors of gun violence have talked about and called on the administration to talk about gun violence more. we know they need to hire people. we know there are crises they need to act on, but we need to act on the american epidemic of gun violence that is still happening. that people like marjorie taylor greene are perpetuating and allowing to continue in this

country so please ask her that. >> david hogg, thank you for the homework assignment. congressman ted deutch of florida, thank you both so much for coming on "the sunday show." coming up next, donald trump's dwindling defense team. i'll ask one of the jurors, senator alex padilla of california. california nicorette knows, quitting smoking is freaking hard. you get advice like: try hypnosis... or... quit cold turkey. kidding me?!

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donald trump is running out of people to defend him in his upcoming impeachment trial. two of trump's attorneys, butch bowers and debborah barbier have made a mutual decision to part ways with trump. "the new york times" reports three other attorneys have also left. nbc news, however, has not verified that reporting. but those close to trump have not been able to identify a single person associated with his defense strategy. although maybe he doesn't need one considering that all but

five republicans have voted to declare the trial itself unconstitutional. joining me now is california senator alex padilla who just a few days ago took the oath to serve impartial justice over trump's second impeachment trial. senator padilla, thanks for coming back to "the sunday show." >> good morning, jonathan. good to be back with you. >> let me have your reaction to the reporting that's coming out of "the new york times" that basically the president doesn't have a defense team right now. can this impeachment trial in the senate go on if the president doesn't have anyone to defend him? >> well, it can go on, and it must go on. and i think it's pretty telling in a number of ways. first of all, if you have seen how donald trump has conducted himself for the last five years, this probably doesn't come as much of a shock. second, look at what happened in the flurry of lawsuits that he and the republican party filed on all the changes to elections

in the lead-up to the last november as states were working hard to ensure people could protect their health and safety during the pandemic and still exercise their right to vote. case after case unsuccessful, but he was losing counsel in the process then. and so, you know, i'm not shocked that nearly on the eve of the impeachment trial he's once again losing representation, and that's pretty telling when attorneys who have taken their own oath and are admitted to the bar don't want to risk that for going down the road on litigation that's baseless. >> should the president defend himself in this impeachment trial? come to the senate and testify on his own behalf? that's another thing that's in "the new york times" story that he is considering saving money by representing himself. >> i think that's certainly an option for him, although he would be well served to prepare for cross-examination.

to be the cross-examiner in that regard, but i am simply a juror. let's also be frank. the case before us couldn't be any clearer. this, unlike almost any other case i can think of, leaves very little room for doubt. the incidents, the insurrection, the rebellion played out in realtime on national television for millions around the country and around the world to witness. so we're going to go through this process, but i know how i intend to vote at the end of it. >> let's turn to covid relief. there's reporting that ten of your republican colleagues in the senate have come up with their own covid relief package. they've requested a meeting with president biden to talk about it. one, do you know about this proposal from these ten republican senators? have you seen it? do you know what's in it?

>> i learned about it as i've seen it in news reports of it, including the letter and some of the counterproposals. my response to that as well, number one, finally. the discussion and the need for urgent covid relief is nothing new. so why now? this could have been done, should have been done days, weeks, even months ago. second, we welcome republicans coming along, but the american people need help now. and they'll have an option to either join with democrats to provide urgent, immediate relief to working families, to small businesses, to state and local governments, sooner rather than later. it's up to them if they want to join us or not. i'm not interested in delay tactics. we've seen this time and again over the years. wait, wait, wait. we want to work with you. and then, sorry, it's too late and they effectively run out the clock. we can't afford that. the people can't afford that. >> so from what i'm hearing, it sounds like you are perfectly

fine with the steps that are being put in place to go the route of reconciliation where it could just be passed by a simple majority if and when the time comes? >> absolutely. you know, that's a legitimate process before us that will provide relief sooner rather than later. that's what should be driving this here. not, you know, bureaucracy or process in the united states senate or congress at large, but the urgent relief that so many american families are needing. families that don't know how they're going to put the next meal on the table. families that -- i guess have a little more of relief from potential evictions that were looming but they're not permanent. they're not long term. you have small businesses struggling to keep the doors open for the last 10, 11 months that need help now. if reconciliation allows us to provide that meaningful relief sooner rather than later, then let's give it a go. republicans have the choice to join us in that or not.

we'll see their true colors when the time comes. >> senator padilla, last question for you. i'm just curious. is there anything in the current $1.9 trillion package that you would be willing to trade away in order to get some bipartisan support for this bill? not that whatever that thing is is bad or not necessary, but something that would make it possible for there to be bipartisan support for the overall package? >> yeah, look, again, not that i can think of right now. if republicans want to come on board and provide more significant relief, if they want to provide more ongoing relief, then that's certainly welcome. this hopefully is not our final bite at the apple. we've been talking about some of the relief checks, immediate assistance to families throughout the country. want to make sure that we respect all families. regardless of immigration status. we have seen a lot of immigrants working as frontline and other

essential workers that need to be included, not excluded in this package. but that doesn't mean we can't do more in the weeks and months ahead. at the end of the day, it's up to republicans to decide to join us in providing urgent immediate relief or not. >> senator alex padilla of the great state of california, thank you very much for coming back to "the sunday show." >> thank you, jonathan. we'll be back soon. all right. i want to turn now quickly to russia where thousands of protesters have been arrested amid widespread demonstrations. the largest russia has seen in years. demanding the release of russian opposition leader alexey navalny. he was arrested last week after returning from germany where he had been recovering from being poisoned. the kremlin denies any role in his poisoning. meanwhile, u.s. secretary of state antony blinken condemned the arrest on twitter and also called for navalny's release. coming up, the conversation continues with connie schultz and donna edwards. don't want to miss it.

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joining me now, connie schultz, pulitzer prize-winning journalist and professional in residence at kent state university's school of journalism and donna edwards, "washington post" contributing columnist and former congresswoman from maryland. all right, connie, donna, both of you saw the first half hour of our show. what are your thoughts? i'll start with the former congresswoman first. >> well, you know what? i think that democrats are really struggling now when you listen to ted deutch and his characterization of marjorie taylor greene. i think right now, democrats are trying to figure out how it is that they can bring some sense into the leadership of kevin mccarthy to try to hold her accountable. i mean, it is, you know, increasingly clear that not only her past words but her present

behavior is unacceptable in congress. and if republicans don't excise her, then it's really clear that that is the face, the current face of the republican party. and, you know, so i'm waiting to see how this plays out and how they can get her out of the congress. >> connie, what do you think? because, i mean, watching leader mccarthy operate or exercise leadership in this moment is just frustrating is the kind word to say. what do you think? >> well, it's not leadership. and you know what struck me this morning, jonathan, was your interview with david hogg. as i was watching it, i couldn't help but think, we ask too much of those who survive, right? and he -- that he would agree to that interview, i admire him. that he has a much leveller head than the people who are

attacking him still. and to have that video come up again -- and all the memories, i really admire him and others, including sandy hook parents who have to keep insisting that their children really did die in those shootings. the thing that concerns me about greene, in addition to what donna said, is that there will be more marjorie greenes. she's the current one. but this is what donald trump has sown. and this is what republican lack of leadership has allowed to happen. so regardless of what happens to her in terms of her status in congress, there will be more to come. we're going to be dealing with this for a long time. >> and when it comes to the covid relief bill, i found it interesting. this morning we wake up to news that ten members of the republican senate have their own covid proposal and want to meet with president biden to talk about it. the administration is out there saying, hey, we'll look at anything. we're willing to meet with anybody. but we're not going to, you know, be delayed in getting

relief to the american people. congresswoman edwards, do you think that the ten members of the senate who have come up with their own proposal -- i haven't seen it. i don't know if you've seen it. but do you think we're looking at something that's a good-faith effort on their part or a delay tactic in the way that senator padilla sort of hinted that maybe that that's what's at stake here, at work here? >> i don't know. looking at the members, it may be a good-faith effort of putting forward a republican proposal, if they were -- if there were republican leadership in the senate. but i think that democrats should use every tool available to them to get relief to the american people. and unfortunately, i think when you deal with trying to separate some of the good pieces from some of the ones you don't want, what happens is that you end up

creating a situation where you are really never going to get the hard stuff because you will have taken the easy stuff out. and so i think democrats should take their cue from republican leadership when mitch mcconnell was in charge of the senate. and they should use every tool available to them to bring the quickest relief possible to the american people. you know, the bill that may come forward from these ten republicans actually, you know, may signal that, in fact, there aren't votes for republicans. that indeed there is more running room for democrats in terms of bringing forward a strong relief bill. >> and connie, your quick final thoughts on what donna just said? >> yeah, i think the democrats should aim high and hit hard. this is not about who you are fighting against. it's who you're fighting for, and if democrats can remember that, and if we're going to talk about unity, let's remember what

unity, the good unity is for the greater good. that's the only unity that's acceptable right now. >> connie, i'm so glad you said that because that was the part of the question that i left out. connie and donna will be back in our next hour. coming up, even as vaccines are going out, anti-vaxers are trying to shut it down. more on that next. ♪ that i'm crazy... ♪ ♪ don't you say that i'm losing my mind. ♪ ♪ i'm in love... ♪ ♪ love, love. ♪ celebrate your love with a gift from pandora jewelry and discover all the ways to shop. sofi made it so easy to pay off my student loan debt. they were able to give me a personal loan so i could pay off all of my credit cards. i got my mortgage through sofi and the whole process was so easy. ♪ express yourself ♪ ♪

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this is a single shot

vaccine in which you start to see efficacy anywhere from 7 to 10 days following the first and only shot. it is very, very good with regard to cold chain requirements. namely, requiring only a refrigerator. it is inexpensive, and the company is capable of making doses in the numbers of billions. >> as early as next week, pharmaceutical giant johnson & johnson will make a bid to the fda for emergency approval of its one-dose covid vaccine. but even with a light at the end of the tunnel for a pandemic-weary nation, the next few months will remain highly dangerous. newer, more dangerous virus mutations, as we pass 26 million infections and nearly 440,000 deaths. and now, grappling with covid deniers who shut down vaccination sites. joining me now is laurie garrett, msnbc's science

contributor and author of "the new york times" best seller "the coming plague." laurie, as always, great to see you, even under the circumstances that bring us together. your first reaction to the johnson & johnson one-dose vaccine. >> well, the good news, jonathan, is that we're getting a long list of potential vaccines for use and that means that we'll have vaccines for different circumstances, different populations, and as mutant strains come forward, we'll have vaccines that work better against one strain versus another. so everybody going into warfare likes to have a diverse set of armaments to combat the enemy. and that's where we are. each of these has different assets, different things about it that are better or worse. in this case, what really stands out about the johnson & johnson is that it claims better than 60% efficacy with the single dose. in some populations, well over

70%. and that's pretty great because when you look at the israeli experience with the moderna vaccine, a single dose only provided about 30% protection while the second dose brought it up to over 90%. so what this means is, in resource-scarce countries, in situations where refrigeration with deep freeze is not possible, in all sorts of contexts where logistics are difficult, the johnson & johnson may be a good alternative. once again, however, we have to be careful because we're reporting based on press releases. and science by press release is crappy science. by definition. so we're all waiting to see the actual details of the trial and of how it compares to the other vaccines when they present their official data to the fda. >> i want to play some sound from the new cdc director,

rochelle walensky and what she had to say about the mutation, the strain that's come out of south africa. have a listen. >> one of the concerning things is that we know these two people did not know one another, and that they did not travel to south africa, so the presumption is at this point there's been community spread of this strain. >> so, laurie, how concerned should we be about this so-called south africa variant of the virus? >> well, certainly compared to the b117 united kingdom variant which spreads more rapidly and may be more lethal, the south african and brazilian strains are much more worrying because they seem to lower the efficacy of the available vaccines. they actually change the binding site that antibodies attach to when they attack the virus. so the binding site itself is altered in its confirmation in

these two mutants. and, of course, jonathan, the point here, and i think what rochelle walensky was trying to say from the cdc is that we have such little active surveillance going on to look for mutants across america that if we spot one in montana and one in minnesota and one person in south carolina, that tells us we've got a lot more virus out there to worry about across america that we're not methodically searching for. if you compare our genomic surveillance to what's going on in south africa, denmark in the uk, it's shameful. it's shameful. we actually rank 43rd in the world for genomic surveillance. >> laurie, we're running out of time, but, you know, active surveillance. genomic surveillance, what exactly should we be doing in the united states to do that kind of surveillance?

>> we should have a methodical approach with strains pulled out in a random fashion for immediate nucleic acid sequencing. you can do this automated. it can be done by machines on a very rapid pace. it just has to be set up, designated and designed in a methodical way so that we're sampling across america. at the very least, we should get above our 0.3% of strains being sampled right now and get up to 2% to 5%. so we're a long ways from having the kind of sentinel surveillance in place that could protect the american people from mutant strains of the virus. >> so laurie, it sounds to me like you've just, at least for me, revealed a big blind spot in what's going on in terms of the united states response to the pandemic. is it something from all your

own sources and what's been reported in the papers. is this a blind spot within the biden administration's covid plans? >> no, i think the biden administration wants to set up such a system. the problem is that it was outsourced in the former administration to the private sector, and now there's a really hasty pace of trying to figure out who is best equipped, which kinds of health departments can handle it themselves. and where it needs to be done in -- by other sources, private sector possibly in collaboration. it's -- look. we're just days into this administration. and there are hundreds and hundreds of things wrong with the covid response that they're trying to fix all at once. and this is one of them. >> all right. laurie garrett, msnbc science contributor, thank you very much, as always, for coming to "the sunday show." coming up, the white house's

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up next, the gop's ties with extremism sparks scrutiny and how president biden's approach couldn't be more different. stay with us. nt stay with us are you frustrated with your weight and health?

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because there are no consequences in the republican caucus for violence. there's no consequences for racism. no consequences for misogyny, no consequences for insurrection, and no consequences means they condone it. it means that silence is acceptance. >> welcome back to "the sunday show." i'm jonathan capehart. the once grand old party is now seen as a far right extremist party with leaders quietly

enabling the rhetoric by donald trump and now marjorie taylor greene to the point members of the democratic congress are fearing for their safety. several republican lawmakers, including greene, have ties to extremist groups that have been linked to the capitol insurrection. not only did donald trump incite the violent siege on the capitol, throughout his presidency he coddled white supremacists, even employing some. within days of taking office, the new biden administration turned the page and took unprecedented steps to embed racial equity principles across the federal government. joining me now for an exclusive interview is the person leading the administration's push for racial equity, former u.n. damm susan rice, who is now the head of president biden's domestic white house policy council. thank you for coming to "the sunday show." >> thank you, jonathan. congratulations on the show. it's great to be with you.

>> thank you. and congratulations to you and your position in the administration. so, why was it important for you, someone steeped in foreign policy, one, to take on a domestic policy role and, two, to dive in full square into the cause of racial equity within the federal government? >> well, jonathan, to answer your first question, it was a great privilege to be asked by president biden to be his domestic policy adviser. served as national security adviser under president obama and vice president biden, i understood them and even more so today how linked our domestic and foreign policies are. it can only be strengthened if we're strong and our challenges at home influence our leadership abroad and vice versa. these are two sides of the same coin. and it's a real privilege to

work on some of the most pressing challenges we've faced from racial equity to immigration to health care to education, gun violence. there's so many important aspects of our policy that i'm proud to work on. it goes with racial equity. this is one of the key crises that the president identified. covid, the economy, climate and racial justice and inequity. we have seen over the last year in very stark terms how much suffering there remains in this country because there are so many people, black and brown, but asian and -- lgbtq, rural, urban who have been left behind for whom the system is not working. and what they're aiming to do is to lift up all those who have been left behind. >> ambassador rice, you know i

agree with you 100% on why this is needed, why it is absolutely necessary to bring the federal government in line with the country that they're leading. but there are going to be republicans who say, well, this focus on racial equity is only going to serve to tear us apart and what about unity? make the case for why focusing on racial equity is paramount to moving this country forward. >> well, as i said, we're focused on racial justice and equity. it's not just racial. it's for everybody who has not had the benefits of a system that has not served everybody. this is the opposite of dividing us. this is about bringing everybody in and bringing inclusive. it's a bit rich to the republicans after four years of decisive president who used bigotry and hatred as a political strategy to accuse a

new administration to include and lift up everybody of divisiveness. there's a very strong, factual reason. it's not about moral leadership doing the right thing, as important as this, but we know economic studies, when we close racial gaps, when we close the racial wealth gap, we create a better, more prosperous country for all. we lost $16 trillion to this economy over the last 20 years because of racial disparities. citi has estimated we could add more than $5 trillion and 6 million jobs to our economy over the next five years if we close racial gaps and opportunity gaps. this is not about serving one group to the detriment of another. this is lifting everybody up and making everybody safer and

richer. so, this is in our collective interest. and division is what sets us back. >> ambassador rice, i have to let you go. before i do that, i was given a homework assignment in the earlier hour from david hogg, survivor of the stillman douglas parkland shooting and he had a specific question he wanted me to ask you. i have a list. we have it here. >> it's horrible this is happening, but also, jonathan, i know you're going to be interviewing ambassador rice later. and i want you to ask her for us, you know, we need the administration to talk about gun violence and talk about appointmenting a national director of gun violence prevention as over 300 survivors of gun violence have talked about and you called on the administration. we know there are crises they need to act on, but we need to act on the american epidemic of gun violence that are still happening that those like majorry taylor greene are still

per pet rating so ask her that. >> ambassador, you just heard david hogg's question. >> i couldn't agree more. this has been the priority of joe biden for years and years. he's been a leader of gun violence. i can assure you in his administration and under my per view of the domestic council, we won't drop the ball on gun violence. i appreciate the work they have done to bring attention to gun violence. we will be addressing this. >> susan rice, thank you very much. i hope you will come back to "the sunday show." we can talk more about specific things that you're working on with the task force on racial equity. thank you very much for being here. >> thank you, jonathan. good to be with you. >> joining me now is former

congresswoman susan molinari, michael steele and sophia nelson. thank you very much for being here. you are all republicans. you are all still republicans, i think. right? susan, you still are. >> yes. >> yes, michael, you said yes. sophia, you said no. >> i'm a never trumper. you know that. >> so let's talk about, given marjorie taylor greene, house leader kevin mccarthy. michael steele, since you are in the middle square, i'm going to start with you. this is your party. you led this party. can you republican party you are still a member of and that you led, is it dead or can it survive this latest iteration of

it? >> you know, i think in light of the way the last few weeks have played itself out, the continual embrace of the kind of hatred and excuse-making around that hatred, sort of stewing -- stirring people's passion around insurrection, et cetera, the idea of the party is no longer a relevant piece. it has dropped into this wasteland of trumpism. so, the question becomes for republicans like myself and susan and others, is how do we begin to re-establish the ground here? and what course do we take to do that. there's great resistance inside the party. i've been told, you forfeited your right to even help the party on the other side of trump. i'm like, really? and when did you become a republican? you know, so that's the kind of fight. you have these folks who just showed up to the party, if you

will, thinking that, you know, they get to decide what's in the punchbowl. but the reality of it is, they don't have the competency to do that because there is no other side of this. what do they do with this? you know, you arm all the members of congress. that's one for our side? i mean, what is the point of marjorie taylor greene? what i see is nothing relevant to democracy and nothing relevant to service to the american people. >> susan, you're a former member of congress. do you even recognize the republican party that is now on capitol hill? >> absolutely not. i share michael's disappointment and concern. i think actually the republican party can become the fringe party, the party that we won't recognize in the next three or four years unless some aggressive leadership steps forward. i think it's that serious. it's not just marjorie taylor

greene, it's serious and how leader mccarthy deals with this will tell us a lot. when we look at the gop in arizona, a gop legislator who just introduced a piece of legislation saying they should be able to overturn electoral results by the legislature. saying what happened in the capitol was not really happening. when we look at what's happening in the south carolina gop wants to censure -- it's not just marjorie taylor greene. it's a disease flowing through the republican party. now, i'm not going to leave the party yet because i want to stand up as long as liz cheney and mitt romney, adam kinzinger are being brave, me sitting in my living room feels like i owe them time to see that they can re-establish this republican party and back them up in any way that i can. i'm not sure, and i never

thought i would say this, i'm not sure the republican party as we know it will be around in a few years. >> sophia, i mean, you're a never-trumper. you left the party. i saw there was stories out there earlier last week about how president trump was thinking about starting his own party, the patriot party. to my mind, i was thinking, you know, go right ahead. take the fringe and the crazies with you and leave the republicans, who actually believe in republican values and conservative values, who actually want to help govern this country, leave the gop to them. should that happen, should folks enshurnlg and push donald trump to start another party? >> a couple things. one, we know he has taken over the republican party. i agree with everything michael and susan said. by the way, it's great to see my friend, former congresswoman susan molinari, she was a mentor

for me, helped me explore and run for congress, michael is my brother. i think your collective experience would be over 75 years if you added us all together. but i think we have something more serious here going on, jonathan. the most important thing is that there has to be accountability before there can be unity. what leader mccarthy does will tell you whether or not trump does own the republican party, which i suspect he does, or whether there will be some spinoff. all of us here know, including you, jonathan, creating new political parties is not easy. it takes a lot of work. trump's lazy. he's not very smart. and he's got a ground swell now in his favor with marjorie taylor greene, the insurrectionists. a gop leadership in the senate and house that is muted, that is afraid, that is coward in ways i never thought i'd see in my lifetime from any political party. i don't think there's going to be this new patriot party. i think you're looking at the

republican fringe, what i call trump thuglican party. that's what they are. they are bullies, they're mean, they attack, they debase it, they're angry all the time, they're aggrieved all the time. that's what the republican party has become. i'm not sure that you can fix this republican party. i'm just not. >> so, you know, i mean, i've taken to calling house minority leader kevin mccarthy like the human weather vane. one minute he's holding president trump accountable, the next he's standing in the gilded gold at mar-a-lago and putting out a tweet that is just politically obscene. and then on the other side of the capitol complex, in the senate, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell has gone -- he's missing. where's his voice? i'm going to talk about him in

my bye line at the end of the show. shouldn't he be out there, aggressive leadership to take the party back? where is he, steele? >> probably having, you know, quiet time somewhere. i mean, he's done his piece. he's done his piece. he said, okay, y'all can do something with the impeachment if you want. oh, no, no, we're going to vote against this because it's unconstitutional. he's gone back and forth, which is what he's always done. what he's trying to do is hold as much ground as he can hold. for mcconnell it's about a position of power in the senate and how he figure out how to hold those grounds to serve his caucus. he's not interested in anything related to trump. he's not going to bring pressure on mccarthy or anyone else to do the right thing.

you'll see that play out when this impeach trial gets under way. so the reality is the republican party is exhibiting the same behavior as it has since the beginning of trump. it is s -- there is no one to stand up to move this party off of trump. you have congressman kinzinger, you have others who try, but they don't have the weight of leadership. he's not like he's the minority leader or the speaker of the house. that's when you bring it to bear. when that leader steps into space, others follow. they're just not there. >> that actually scares me because that means in a two-party system that the united states is, if one party is functioning and the other one is basically dead, where does that leave american governance and where does that leave the

american people? that's a rhetorical question because we have to go. former congresswoman susan molinari, michael steele and sophia nelson, thank you so much for coming to "the sunday show." we asked various republican leaders to join us today, house and senate minority leaders, mitch mcconnell and kevin mack kaert did not respond, and other members of congress specifically declined to join us. we'll keep trying. up next, a major achievement for our lgbtq rights. ten years after the reversal of don't ask, don't tell. l. for pin, but maybe not for people with certain inflammatory conditions. because there are options. like an “unjection™”. xeljanz. the first and only pill of its kind that treats moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or moderate to severe ulcerative colitis when other medicines have not helped enough. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections.

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honored to appear before you for nominee of secretary of transportation. i want to thank president biden with trusting me with this nomination. i would like to take a moment to introduce my husband who is here with me today.

i'm really proud to have him by my side. i also want to take this chance to thank him for his many sacrifices and his support in making it possible for me to pursue public service. >> if president biden has his way, pete buttigieg will be the first openly lgbtq cabinet member to be confirmed by the senate ever. it's just one of the many ways in which biden has pledged to advance lgbtq rights after making monumental progress during the obama administration. last week on his very first day in office, president biden signed an executive order directing all federal agencies to employment a recent supreme court decision that protects lgbtq americans from employment discrimination. and this week he repealed trump's ban on transgender americans serving in the military, ten years after president obama repealed don't ask, don't tell. joining me is valerie jarrett,

former senior adviser to president barack obama and author of "finding my voice" and alphonso david. thank you for coming on "the sunday show." as i noted in the introduction, the repeal of don't ask, don't tell, which was a ban on gay men and lesbian serving openly in the military was repealed ten years ago last month. if memory serves, you were there for the vote. is that right? >> yes, i was, jonathan. first of all, good morning. i was there. it was the only time i actually went up to the senate for a vote. it was important to me to be a part of history. it was the beginning of a steady effort by president obama and then vice president biden to fight for equality and justice for all americans. so, repealing don't ask, don't tell, arguing that doma was

unconstitutional, advocating for same-sex marriage, ensuring the employers who did business with the federal government could not discriminate against those in the lgbtq community. also ensuring those who wanted to serve and qualified should not be banned from serving because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. these were all important steps the obama/biden administration took. i'm so heartened to now see president biden following through and reversing the damage that was done under president trump. >> and i remember, i was riding on the train up to new york going to nbc when the tweet came from president trump announcing that he, out of the blue, out of nowhere, that he was directing the pentagon to ban transgender americans from serving in the military. as someone who worked very hard on the appeal -- the repeal of

don't ask, don't tell, your reaction to a president of the united states doing something like that that openly discriminated against a group of americans. we may have lost valerie. alphonso, i'll direct the question to you. let's make it more forward-looking since i have you as the president of the largest lgbtq rights organization in the country. you know everything that's going on. you laugh, but it's true. i know it's true. with the president of the united states, joe biden, signing on his very first day the eo making it possible for transgender americans to serve openly in the military, why was it so important for president biden to

do that and what signal does that send to the community? >> thank you for having me on. i think when we look at the action that president biden has taken with his first week in office, there is a clear signal that he's sending. your government values you. after four years of demonization, four years of being targeted by our government, we now have a federal administration that respects lgbtq people. as you said when you opened this segment, president biden on his very first day issued the most comprehensive, substantive, wide-ranging executive order prohibiting discrimination against lgbtq people, effectively enforcing the supreme court's box top decision. and now removing the ban against transgender people serving in the u.s. military. what undergirds all of these actions is one simple message -- government has a responsibility to represent all of us. and you have a president in the

white house who understands and values that principle. i'll just say one last thing. he also issued, and you talked about this a few minutes ago with ambassador rice, he issued an executive order on racial equity. what's important about that executive order, it includes lgbtq people. it talks about the intersectional nature that we have to think about making policy. i'm black, i'm gay, i'm an immigrant. i have all of these identities and i live in an intersectional space. and now we have a federal administration that is reversing the course of action that trump took over the past four years and actually respecting all of our identities. >> one of the things -- executive orders and executive actions are terrific because they set a tone, they send a message to government and to communities and to the country, but nothing beats legislation.

nothing beats law that the president signs into law. that brings me to the equality act. do you have any intel, any update on where things are getting the equality act passed by the president and in for signage? >> yes, we are in active discussions both with the house of representatives as well as the senate to advance this piece of legislation for viewers who may not know, the equality act would provide comprehensive legal protectants to lgbtq people. some say, why do you need that? don't you have the supreme court decision? we have that because there are many cases where there is no federal law that provides protections to lgbtq people. for one, transportation hubs or going to a retail store, you don't have those protections that lgbtq people need. so, we're working both with speaker pelosi as well as leader schumer to make sure we can

advance that bill in the session. this bill passed in the last session in the house of representatives. it was stalled by mitch mcconnell in the senate. we are working to make sure we have the votes to get this bill through. joe biden has said he will sign it and it is extremely important we get it through this session. >> valerie jarrett is back. i'm glad we were able to get you back. valerie, let me have you listen to what vice president biden -- biden said when he signed the executive order allowing transgender americans to serve in the military. >> what i'm doing today is all qualified americans serve our country in uniform. essentially restoring the situation, transgender personnel, if qualified in every other way, can serve their government in the united states

military. >> valerie, i wanted to play that for you and our viewers. let me put up the tweet sent by texas senator john cornyn, another, quote, unifying move by the new administration. biden ends partial ban on u.s. soldiers in u.s. military. valerie, i know that unity is very important to you. your reaction to a sitting senator, united states senator, reacting that way to a move that is clearly meant to open access to all americans who want to serve in the military. >> well, he shouldn't be threatened by equality and justice and efforts by biden to try to bring our country together, which means we have to reconcile with the challenges we have in this country. for far too long, we haven't provided a level playing field. we haven't reflected the core values i know are so important

to president biden. so, it also, i think, jonathan, reflects somebody out of touch with the vast majority of americans and where their core values lie. and i think what we're going to see, particularly with the new generation, and i was so heartened to see you had david hogg on earlier. we have a whole new generation of leaders running for office, advocating from the outside, that understand diversity and inclusion is actually a strength. it's part of what has made america so vibrant and respected around the world. we still have a lot of very important work to do if we're going to achieve that important core value. yes, it's troubling to see either sitting members in the house or the senate, or average citizens who don't appreciate the fact that this is what really reflects who we should be and trying to stop the page backwards. >> to your point, dr. racialle

levine, who was appointed by president biden to be the number one, i believe it's at hhs, first transgender person appointed to that level of government job has been harassed and part of a smear campaign out there in the world. it's probably on social media because that's where smear campaigns happen. but that's america today. the other flip side of america today. we have to leave it there. valerie jarrett, alphonso david, thank you for coming to "the sunday show." up next, what do alicia keys and vice president harris have in common? they're among the extraordinary members of the alpha kappa alpha sorority. i'll speak to the head of the iconic organization when we come back e iconic organization when we come back

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paris went to howard university.

there she joined ail ail pa kappa alpha. i even went so far to skiwi, which i learned can only be done by members of the sorority. some of the most powerful women in the country are akas. sunny of "the view" and sophia nelson are among those who schooled me on my offense. i apologized immediately. i went to carlton, small liberal arts college in minnesota. we don't have greek life on campus. so, what did i know? a bunch of nothing, obviously. joining me now is the international president and ceo of alpha kappa alpha sorority,

incorporated, dr. linda glover. thank you for coming to "the sunday show." >> thank you for inviting me. >> i wanted to use the little controversial i got into by doing something i wasn't supposed to do, which is something that i learned is very sacred and very beloved by akas. i wanted to use it as an opportunity to talk on a larger scale about alpha kappa alpha and where it fits in the dynamic within the average american community and why it is so important to the african-american community. madame president, dr. glover, alpha kappa alpha, thumbnail of its history. >> let me say, i'm always grateful to share with others

the important role alpha kappa alpha and other members of our dive vine line play in our community. alpha kappa alpha service organization started in 1980 on howard university's campus is the oldest greek organization for educated african-american women. we have so many service projects that we participate in. the get out the vote movement, breast cancer, mobile machine we take around the country, giving mammograms to individuals who cannot afford them, the hbc initiative. we've already contributed $10 million to hbcs as well as endowments and scholarships to students. the outreach to communities is outstanding. a fa kappa alpha and other members of the divine line. >> the power of alpha kappa

alpha and the divine nine, the nation got to see it when it came to the 2020 election and having now vice president kamala harris on the ticket. how important was it to akas that one of their own was on a ticket and then ascended, played a part in her ascension to being a heart beat away from the presidency? >> it was absolutely important. it spoke to two things, the significance of black women, where we are today, the role in hbcus have had in african-american talent and leadership in the country, and for vice president kamala harris to have attended howard university, premiere hbcu and risen now to vice president of the united states speaks volumes for her profession and also for

hbcus, it was a special moment, a full-circle moment that she was initiated into aka, and has shown what hbcus mean to the country, the caliber of individuals that hbcus produce. >> one last question for you, dr. glover. did alpha kappa alpha, the divine nine, and also black fraternities, did you play a role in the georgia senate runoffs that led to the election of now senator reverend warnock and senator ossoff? >> yes. the divine nine, we made sure that there was voter engagement, whether voter mobilization, voter registration, voter education. that voting engagement was absolutely important. for the november 3rd elections

we made sure we had voter protections in place. our whole network was in play. we repeated that for the georgia election to make sure that we had get out to vote. it was all dependent on getting out to vote and voter being protected. once you voted, that vote was counted in the election. >> and that we'll leave it there. dr. glover, thank you for coming to "the sunday show." >> thank you so much. coming up, congress continues to debate a covid relief package with millions out of work and the virus ravaging the country. the "sunday sound" is next. coun. the "sunday sound" is next

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can you give us a ballpark of how much you're willing to spend in this whole package you're proposing? >> well, it will be less than $1.9 because much of what the administration has laid out has nothing to do with covid-19. >> republicans hitting the other sunday shows this morning to throw cold water on president biden's hope for a bipartisan covid relief bill with senator portman and nine other republicans this morning putting forward their own proposal. republicans in both houses say biden's plan provides too much money for some of the hardest hit by the pandemic. >> putting $170 billion towards

teachers unions priorities takes care of a democratic constituency group, but it wastes our federal taxpayer dollars for something which is not the problem. >> joining me now are eugene daniels and co-author of poe lit co-'s playbook, connie schultz and donna edwards, msnbc political analyst and columnist for "the washington post" and former democratic member of the house of representatives from the great state of maryland. thank you all for coming for "sunday sound." i want to play congressman kinzinger and what he had to say about gop in-fighting on "meet the press." have a watch. >> is there just no room for disagreement in the republican party when it comes to donald trump? this to me is a form of cancel culture, is it not? >> it is totally. if you look at matt gates going

to wyoming because a tough woman has an independent view and he doesn't want to have to explain why he didn't vote for impeachment? that's totally cancel culture. >> donna edwards, former member of congress, i mean, what do you make of what congressman kinzinger says? i think he's right. >> i think he's right. but if you look at the republican party, he is in a clear minority when it comes to what's going on in the party right now. i mean, two-thirds of them really are donald trumpites. it's hard to see how that changes in the short run. >> connie? >> i'm glad they're going to be in the minority. i really do. i mean, when you -- >> all right. >> when you listen to this in-fighting, it's barely any of them speaking out. there's so much to get done here. we have to cover it. of course, they're elected officials but this is so incredibly tiresome, isn't it,

when we have people in need. >> true. eugene, i'm fascinated by the in-fighting within the republican party, but the leadership of the republican party not doing anything to rein in the crazy. your perspective. >> yeah. i mean, the whiplash we've gotten over the last weeks since january 6th with the republican party, seemed like they were going to move away from president trump quite a bit. kevin mccarthy being chief among them, kind of laying blame at the feet of president trump for what happened on january 6th. and now it's become very clear that president trump is still very much in charge of the republican party. that's not changing. part of that is because leadership is no flying to palm beach and hanging out with the president, taking pictures and releasing a statement saying how much they support president trump. for those that thought president trump was going somewhere when it came to republican politics, that's not happening any time

soon. >> one of the things -- let's just play this sound from senator rob portman when he was asked whether what president trump did was wrong. his response, i think, plays into the mess that we're in right now. listen. >> do you consider trump's actions leading up to and on january 6th to be impeachable conduct, yes or no? >> i said with regard to the president's comments that day that they were partly responsible for what happened, for the horrible violence that happened on capitol hill. i've also said what he did was wrong and inexcusable. i've used the word inexcusable because that's how i feel. >> donna, inexcusable, great. but when it came time to vote against that rand paul objection declaring the trial unconstitutional, he went along with the crowd. so, if you've got someone who has the reputation of being as

level-headed as senator rob portman who won't take the bold rhetorical step of saying the president did something that wasn't just inexcusable but, you know, sediticious, what does that say about the rest of the republicans on the hill? >> they're completely co-opted by president trump. if you listen to senator portman, what he's saying is the president's actions were inexcusable, it was responsible for the storming of the capitol hill but it's not impeachable to remove the president who was inexcusable for inciting the violence that occurred on january 6th. they can't even make sense of it. so, i don't know how the rest of us are supposed to make sense of it. >> eugene, being mr. politico,

the prospects of actually convicting donald trump in this senate trial, do they still remain slim to none? >> i think so. i mean, you have rob portman, who isn't seeking re-election, right, saying this. so, if he was someone who had an election to think about, you know, we could -- it would make a lot of sense that he would be waffling in the middle of this. i think it was bad but not impeachable. i mean, the republican party is going -- seems they're strongly against this idea of convicting and they're leaning on kind of this process argument, right, that you shouldn't be able to convict this -- a sitting president when they're now a private citizen. there are some constitutional experts who disagree with that, but that is what they're leaning on. they're not saying what he did was good or he didn't do anything bad here. it's a process argument, and that part is key. >> connie, so you had mentioned before about how there are so many people -- so many people in

need. we woke up this morning, that ten republican senators, rob portman being one of them, they've come up with their own covid relief package and they want to meet with president biden to talk about it. i haven't seen what's in the covid relief package, but from your vantage point, does it seem like their effort is a good-faith effort or a stall tactic? >> well, if we look at their -- their recent history, which is the last four years, farther back than that, actually, this is possibly an attempt to slow walk. we have every reason to suspect that. full disclosure, i need to make clear that i'm married to rob portman's colleague in the senate, sherrod brown. i am so tired of hearing how he's more moderate, more reasonable. demeanor does not equal politics. and he has been in lockstep with donald trump the last four years. it took him weeks to acknowledge that joe biden had been elected

president. and i'm really getting tired of this because all it takes is somebody who's not calling names to be called a reasonable republican. a reasonable republican is someone who's going to work with the democrats to help the people who need the help the most. >> connie schultz, i have a question to you ask, which has been floating around on my twitter page. and i have to ask you -- yep, you know where this is going. >> i do. >> there's a senate seat opening up. senator portman said he's retiring. why not have a husband/wife team representing ohio? would you consider running for the united states senate from the great state of ohio? >> okay. i didn't think that's where -- no, no. one in this family is enough. but we do have some women i want us to be looking at in the state of ohio. it's not just men running for the senate. >> with that, we have to leave it there. eugene daniels, connie schultz, i think you should think about it, and connie edwards.

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♪♪ in our segment on the pbs news hour this friday, david brooks talked about what would be needed for the republican party to survive this dangerous period. >> so the survival of the party depends on the rallying of what we used to think of as normal republicans. and so far they've stuck their head up here and there, but there's been no rallying, no organization, not much of a caucus and so there has to be at least the fight to defend the party. >> if there is one person who relishes a fight, or so i thought, it's mitch mcconnell, the kentucky republican cares about two things, confirming conservative judges and holding on to power. after four years of trump, the judiciary is swarming with his judges. but after four years of trump,

mcconnell's hold on power and by extension the hold of mainstream sane republicans is in danger. power, as mcconnell has wielded it within the republican party, is slipping from his grasp. and quite honestly, i'm stunned, stunned mcconnell would shy away from a fight so easily. if there's one thing i respect about the guy, he's unafraid to use the power he has and to twist it to suit his political purposes. after all, mcconnell's the guy who famously said in 2010 that his number one goal was to limit president obama to one term, who did everything possible he could to slow down or jack up obama's legislative agenda for eight straight years. and who audaciously stole the supreme court seat in obama's last year without blinking an eye. and yet in a battle over the soul of his party, mcconnell has retreated from this fight.

sure, after the january 6th insurrection he thundered, he signaled that he might actually vote to convict trump in the senate trial. before voting to declare the trial itself unconstitutional. look, the republican party prides itself on being the party of lincoln. the party of the president who freed the slaved and saved the union against the confederacy. but the party of lincoln today has been overrun by white supremacists and others who fear a democracy where people of color not only have rights, they have power. you know who else has power? mitch mcconnell. the street fighter who takes the fight to liberals and uses every tool possible to thwart their ambitions, needs to unleash that power on his party to help save it from itself. what good is our two-party system when one of the parties is openly tearing itself apart and its most powerful elected

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♪♪ good day, everyone. from new york, we're just about at high noon in the east. in fact, we are right now, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." big developments on a number of fronts this hour. we begin at the white house where this week president biden will be tackling his number one legislative priority, covid relief. while democrats are preparing to push through their plan along party lines, this morning a group of ten republican senators wrote biden proposing an alternative bipartisan relief package and asking to meet with the president. one of those senators breaking down what that plan includes. >> with regard to the direct payments, we think they should be much more targeted. 50,000 capped individuals as